From G. de Beer, Royal Navy hydrographer to FitzRoy, Captain of "The
Beagle":

"My dear sir, I believe my friend Mr. Peacock of Trinity
College Cambridge has succeeded in getting a 'savant' for you - a Mr. Darwin,
grandson of the well known philosopher and poet......"

Overview of the life of Erasmus Darwin.
Records of the Darwin family can be found in Elston church near Nottingham,
north central England dating back as far as 1654. Erasmus was born at Elston
Hall in 1731. He was the fourth son of Robert Darwin (1682-1754), a moderately
successful lawyer, and Elizabeth Darwin (1702-1797, originally Elizabeth Hill).
Elizabeth Darwin was a charismatic, intelligent woman with a fondness for
reading and raising pigeons, (which interestingly play a part in the first
chapter of "Origin of Species"). Robert Darwin inherited Elston
hall and lived comfortably but never dedicated himself to the accumulation
of wealth. He retired early to pursue an interest in archeology and enjoy
the simple pleasures of country life. Reading between the lines there is some
suggestion of occasional impatience with his ever exuberant, energetic and
scholastic wife, twenty years younger than he. In one litany he writes:

"From a morning that doth shine,
From a boy that drinketh wine,
From a wife that talketh Latine,
Good lord deliver me."

Erasmus was an inquisitive and inventive child who experimented
with poetry, clocks, and electricity. His thirst for knowledge was matched
only by his appetite for sweets, his dislike of exercise and his indifference
towards what his older brothers called "rural diversions". One such
"diversion" (a fishing trip) culminated with the older brothers
tying Erasmus in a sack, allowing him to fall in the river, and almost drown.
This may possibly have led to his reluctance to accompany them further.

At age ten he was sent to Chesterfield school, which he found
most agreeable, and there he flourished both academically and in terms of
his circumference. In a letter to his sister he reveals his wit with the ingenious
arguments he uses to rationalize his inability to abstain from eating meat
during lent:

"...I have lived upon puding, milk and vegetables all this lent; but
don't mistake me, I don't
mean I have not touched roast beef mutton ,veal, goose, fowl etc. for what
are these ? All flesh
is grass !"

We also see here that Erasmus is developing a liking for cynical critique
of religious ritual and an enduring love of food, which would inevitably lead
to his future corpulence. Later in life, a semi-circular hole had to be cut
in a dining table to accommodate his girth at meal times.

At nineteen he won a scholarship to attend St. John's College,
Cambridge with his two older brothers. Supporting three sons at once was a
financial strain on the family, (although apparently not enough to cause Robert
Darwin to go back into practice), and during his college years, Erasmus learned
a good deal of practical independence and frugality. He was awarded a BA in
1754 and went on to two years of medical college at Edinburgh.There he became
friends with James Keir, later a famous chemist and fellow member of the Lunar
Society of Birmingham. This group of liberal minded thinkers and industrialists
met on moonlit nights to exchange ideas and develop new inventions. The Lunar
society is widely recognized as a major catalyzing force behind north England's
industrial revolution.

In 1756, armed with much erroneous 18th century medical knowledge,
Erasmus was let loose on the people of Nottingham. At first, he could find
no patients, so he moved to Lichfield, where he lived for twenty-five years.
Soon after arriving, he was able to save the life of a young man from a leading
family, whom other doctors had declared a hopeless case. This established
his reputation in the area and his practice grew quickly. A few months later
he met and married the eighteen year old Mary Howard who was described as
"blooming and lovely" with a mind of "native strength".
They enjoyed a happy marriage until Mary's premature death in 1770 age thirty-one.

Erasmus and Mary Howard had four children that survived infancy
including Robert Darwin (Charles Darwin's father). Their first son (also called
Charles) went to medical school but died at eighteen after cutting himself
while dissecting the brain of a child and contracting an infection. Their
second son, Erasmus Jr., became a lawyer. Erasmus Jr. had a tendency to be
introspective, directionless and flighty, often leaving bills and paper-work
unattended. One evening, prompted by his infuriated father (who had presumably
grown tired of paying off Erasmus Jr.'s petty debts), he settled down to deal
with a pile of unpaid bills and apparently finding the chore unbearable, ran
from the house, jumped off a bridge and drowned himself. The Darwins tried
to put some positive spin on the incident by implying to outsiders that the
death was accidental, but the facts suggest otherwise. It could be that this
incident had some bearing on Robert Darwin's dismay at seeing his own son's
directionlessness prior to the voyage on The Beagle. There is some suggestion
that Mary Darwin, Erasmus Jr. and possibly Charles Darwin all suffered from
some sort of heritable malady since they all shared some of the same symptoms.
For Mary and Erasmus Jr., these included occasional bouts of depression or
hysteria which may have led to Erasmus Jr.'s suicide. It has also been suggested
that Charles Darwin's belief in the heritability of this disease may have
led to some psycosomatic effects that worsened his own health after his return
from the voyage of "The Beagle".

After the death of his first wife, Erasmus Darwin developed
somewhat of a reputation for "his fondness for Venus", and had two
illegitimate daughters by a Miss Parker. The girls were raised in his home
and were the inspiration for a book Darwin authored on female education. The
sisters went on to start a boarding school of their own nearby. Erasmus enjoyed
the company of several other women too and for a while continued a flirtation
with an old friend and neighbor, a Miss Anna Seward who, partly as a result
of Darwin's guidance, became a well known poet herself. Although close for
many years they never married. It seems that Anna may have resented this a
little since her memories of Darwin, written late in life are generally flattering
but occasionally otherwise; when she talks of their personal relationship
she describes a "cold shell of sarcasm" that surrounded him.

In 1778, Erasmus fell in love with Elizabeth Pole, wooing her
with verse and wit. Unfortunately, she was already married to a colonel Pole
and Darwin had to wait for the colonel's convenient death in 1780 before making
Elizabeth his second wife. By this time it has been said that Erasmus was
"fat, clumsy and ugly", while the new Mrs. Darwin was young, beautiful,
charming and pursued by many young suitors. Anna Seward described the marriage
as "the triumph of intellect over aesthetics". Elizabeth had no
great fondness of Lichfield, (or possibly just the ever present Anna Seward),
so the Darwin's moved away to Derby. His second marriage was also a happy
one and seven more children were forthcoming, bringing his grand total to
thirteen. Darwin lived a healthy life and died suddenly of a heart attack
in 1802 aged seventy.

Erasmus Darwin's character and diversity of achievement.
Darwin was a good humored, larger than life character known for his wit, charm
and forthrightness. He was energetic and sociable, the type of person that
turns any gathering into a party. He possessed a bad stammer but this did
not seem to adversely affect his public speaking ability. Indeed it was often
said that the stammer aided his delivery by giving him time to choose his
words more precisely and by causing listeners to attend more carefully. When
one well-meaning young man asked him if he found the stammer inconvenient,
Darwin answered:

"No sir, it gives me time for reflection and saves me from
asking impertinent questions."

Others have alluded to the fact that when opposed in debate,
he could be overbearing, sardonic and merciless in his rhetoric. A reading
of his personal letters shows that he apparently enjoyed baiting those whom
he knew held views different to his own, particularly when his thoughts turned
to religion or politics. In this respect it seems he had much in common with
scientific personalities of today, although in his time "good natured
sparring" of this sort was often not taken so lightly. In a letter to
a friend whom Erasmus knew to be a loyal subject of the (slightly loopy) King
George, a staunch catholic, and a supporter of the French aristocratic clergy-in-exile,
Darwin cannot resist inserting a few jabs amongst the otherwise cordial missive:

"...... The success of the French against a confederacy
of kings gives me great pleasure and I
hope they will preserve their liberty and spread the holy flame of freedom
over Europe......"

"....... [I see by your letter you'll laugh to the last], like Pope Alexander
who died laughing on
seeing his tame monkey steal to bed side and put on the holy tiara, the triple
crown, which
denotes him king of kings. Now Mr. Pain says he thinks a monkey or a bear
or a goose may
govern a kingdom as well and at a much less expense than any being in Christendom,
whether
idiot or madman or in his royal senses......"

" ........ I don't believe amongst the 8000 French Parsons whom you are
feeding in London, and
whom France has spewed out of her mouth that you can find one equal to your
old playfellow
[in your home parish]."

Erasmus could be direct to the point of insensitivity, but it seems that he
believed that directness was always the kindest approach in the long run.
To one pious young lady he is reputed to have said:

" ... Man has but five gates of knowledge, the five senses;
he can know nothing but through them;
all else is vain fancy and as for the being of a God, the existence of a soul,
or a world to come,
who can know anything about them? Depend on it my dear madam, these are only
the bugbears
by which men of sense govern fools."

When we consider his life of charity, and the accolades of all
who new him, even those with whom he had disagreements, we must forgive him
his occasional lapses of patience in debate (especially since it turns out
that he was nearly always right).

The devoutly religious Samuel Coleridge knew, but secretly disliked
Darwin for his poem "The Botanic Garden" (with it's evolutionary
undertones), for his "tendency to atheism" and for his attempts
to bait Coleridge into religious debate. Nonetheless, Coleridge said of him:

"Dr. Darwin possesses, perhaps a greater range of knowledge
than any other man in Europe
and is the most inventive of philosophical men. He thinks in a new train on
all subjects except
religion. Dr. Darwin is an extraordinary man, and received me very courteously
- He had heard
that I was a Unitarian and bantered incessantly on the subject...... When
he talks on any other
subject he is a wonderfully entertaining and instructive old man...... I absolutely
nauseate
Darwin's Poem."

It should be added that everybody else seemed to like Darwin's
poem, "The Botanic Garden" well enough, since it was widely regarded
as a literary classic, inspiring stylistic echoes and influences in the work
of other poets (including Coleridge himself) for years to come.

Throughout his life Erasmus was inventive, productive and multi-faceted.
This was an exciting time for a man of science to have lived. Whole new vistas
of knowledge and understanding were unfolding. Through his correspondence
and connections, he always kept abreast of key discoveries, and demonstrated
admirable flexibility in his ability to re-evaluate old paradigms and see
new implications.

His receptiveness to new ideas can be clearly seen from the
way that his published views seem to evolve significantly over time, particularly
between the various editions of "Zoonomia" (discussed later).

One cannot help but be struck by the long list of familiar names
from 18th and 19th century science, philosophy and industry with whom Darwin
had direct or indirect contact (see below). Similarly impressive are his diverse
(and often uncredited) contributions to science and many of the industrial
revolution's best known technologies. He was also a horticulturist, poet,
humanitarian and philosopher, progressive and prophetic in thought, politically
and scientifically many years ahead of his time. His ideas, inventions and
accomplishments are too numerous to address individually but a brief synopsis
is included as an appendix.

As a physician Erasmus Darwin was widely recognized as England's
finest medical doctor. He was asked several times to be personal physician
to King George, although his lack of respect for the monarchy in general and
George in particular made this an easy offer to refuse. Much of the philosophy
central to Erasmus Darwin's medical beliefs is laid out in his treatise on
animal life called "Zoonomia." Although his views were loaded down
with incorrect 18th century ideas and assumptions, and some of his treatments
seem strange, almost barbaric to us today, he was generally able to improve
the lives of many of his patients using common-sense ideas such as a balanced
diet, the practice of basic hygiene and the cleaning and dressing of wounds.
He was considered progressive in that he believed in a connection between
his patient's state of mind and their general health, and was one of the first
physicians to espouse sympathetic treatment of mental patients, who at the
time were kept in deplorable conditions.

He showed similar compassion towards the poor and homeless,
whom he treated without fee, and charged others only what they could afford.
Like his father before him, he was known as a militant opponent to the use
of alcohol and was convinced that it's use could lead to a variety of health
problems, a view widely scoffed at by his peers. After the Beagle voyage,
Charles Darwin often claimed that his own health problems were related to
his consuming some sour wine in South America. This seems unlikely but his
belief may have been the result of the teachings of his grandfather.

Erasmus Darwin's public decline.
Towards the end of his years it seems Darwin fell from public favor somewhat.
This was partly because some of the central ideas he presented in his medical
treatise "Zoonomia" were shown to be false, but mainly because his
other views were so forward-thinking and radical that they began to cause
serious concern to the English establishment. His support of the French and
American revolutions, his ideas on social equality, religious, educational
and political reform and his constant vocal opposition to the slave trade
made him many powerful enemies in London who went out of their way to discredit
him.

His radical views became particularly worrying to the English
establishment in light of the near hysteria generated by the French revolution.
The possibility of a popular uprising and the overthrow of the old monarchistic
and theistic orders seemed a real and terrifying possibility to the English
nobility and clergy. They mobilized their forces and did everything possible
to maintain the status-quo from which they benefited. The clergy preached
the importance of humility and contentment to the masses while many nobles
published huge numbers of pamphlets designed to "remind" workers
of how much worse off they would be if not so paternally sheltered from the
trials of independence by their aristocratic overlords. Some went further
- employing mobs to harass the public and private meetings of reformist bourgeoisie,
including members of Erasmus's Lunar Society. The net result of these actions
was to bring about a conservative movement that set the stage for one hundred
years of intolerant Victorian imperialism and ultimately the appearance of
the early twentieth century evangelical groups.

In 1798, a scathing parody of Darwin's "The Loves of Plants"
(the second half of the of "The Botanic Garden") appeared in "The
anti-Jacobin". The anonomously published article, called "The Loves
of Triangles," was actually written by George Canning, Under-Secretary
for Foreign Affairs in the Pitt government. Canning particularly ridicules
three of Darwin's ideas: that humans have evolved from lower forms, that electricity
will have important practical applications and that the mountains are older
than the bible says they are. Darwin was also widely lambasted for his prediction
that powered aircraft would eventually become a major weapon of war. The fallacy
of these attacks hardly needs to be stressed, and it seems safe to assume
that Erasmus would eventually have resumed his place amongst the eighteenth
century's most recognized scientific elite had he not been somewhat over-shadowed
by the rise to fame of his grandson.

The attacks were personally wounding to Erasmus and after 1798,
resigned to the realities of the social climate and his own advancing age,
he withdrew somewhat from public life. Amongst his close associates he remained
as outspoken as ever and continued to discuss his progressive views in his
personal correspondence, but he decided to delay the release of his evolutionary
poem "The Temple of Nature", which was eventually published posthumously
a year after his death. "Temple" was not received as warmly as "Botanic
Garden" and a shift towards a more internal, emotional poetic style galvanized
by such writers as Wordsworth led the general public away from Erasmus's work
for good.

Connections, influences and influences.
There follows an abbreviated list of some of the better known personal acquaintances,
contacts, disciples and mentors of Erasmus Darwin. These are included so that
we might begin to visualize the full extent of his influence.

James Kier. Famous chemist, member of Lunar
Society, involved in developing new chemical processes for Wedgwood's pottery
manufacturing.

Matthew Boulton. Buckle maker, coin maker,
member of Lunar Society, later formed partnership with James Watt.

Benjamin Franklin. Continued correspondence
with Darwin, Watt and Boulton who were strong supporters of American independence.
Met with Darwin several times.

Dr. William Small. Professor of natural philosophy
at Case Western university, friend of Franklin's and teacher of Thomas Jefferson.
Later moved to England and became Darwin's "favorite friend".

Josiah Wedgwood. Pottery manufacturer. Originally
became friend of Darwin's as both were advocates of a new canal system. Darwin
and the Lunar Society helped Wedgwood with many other projects including wind
powered mill and new chemical processes that assured his success in business.
Erasmus's son Robert married Josiah's daughter Susannah in 1796 and Charles
Darwin married another Wedgwood in 1839.

James Watt. Member of Lunar Society, inventor
of steam engine. Boulton and Watt went into business together, producing steam
engines that drove much of industrial revolution.
Thomas Day. Member of Lunar Society, author, reform activist.

Dr. Joseph Priestley. Member of Lunar society,
experimental scientist, worked on the constituents of air and other problems.
His work was funded by subscription organized by Darwin.

King George III. Wanted Darwin as physician.
Opposed independence for America. Disliked by Darwin.
Thomas Beddoes. Friend of Darwin's and anti-church activist. His activism
was funded by money from Wedgwood and Edgeworth.

James Hutton. "Father of modern geology",
exchanged many letters with Darwin.

Keats, Shelley, Lord Byron. Poets. Fans of
Darwin's written style. Shelley's "Frankenstein" was partly inspired
by a conversation between Byron and Shelley about Darwin's ideas on the origin
of life. (Frankenstein was also partly inspired by the scientific experiments
and politics of Darwin's friend, Benjamin Franklin, in fact, Shelley at first
considered calling her monster "Franklinstein").

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Poet, Author of "Kubla
Kahn". Critic of Darwin's poems even though echoes of his style can be
seen in Coleridge's work.

William Wordsworth. Poet, critic of Darwin's
material poetic style. Began the shift to more human, emotional poetry.

Erasmus Darwin's writings.
Greatly aiding any attempt to understand Erasmus's life is the fact that many
of his original papers and correspondence have been lovingly preserved by
the Darwin family. Perhaps the most useful is his "Commonplace Book".
This is his daily record of thoughts, ideas and observations. Erasmus was
a great believer in the usefulness of written notes as an aid to invention
and creativity. He devotes many initial pages to describing the different
techniques used to cross-reference entries in such a way that a progressive
thread of thought may be followed over time. The book is bursting with sketches
and descriptions of inventions, case-studies and commentaries of his patient's
health problems and possible ways to treat them, as well as observations of
natural phenomena and technologies that interested him. Stylistically, "Commonplace"
stresses recording as many raw thoughts as possible, without necessarily worrying
too much about their practicality or eventual fruition. In many ways the written
style resembles that which Charles Darwin, used to log his thoughts during
the voyage of "The Beagle". This should not be too surprising since
Charles had access to most of the writings of his grandfather during his education
and probably picked up some of their stylistic tone.

Erasmus Darwin's published work is as diverse as his life. It
includes several large poetic works, treatises of plant and animal life and
shorter articles describing his various scientific endeavors which he presented
to the Royal Society (reviewed by Ernst Krause, 1887). Most of his writing
was done after the death of his first wife in 1770. In 1787 he completed a
major translation of the works of Linneaus. These were published with the
author listed as "The Lichfield Botanical Society", but this society,
which Erasmus founded, actually consisted of just three members and in reality
almost all of the work was done by Erasmus alone.

In 1778 he established a botanical garden about a mile outside
Lichfield and this became the inspiration for his first popular publishing
success; "The Loves of the Plants" (1789). This was actually the
second part of a larger work "The Botanic Garden". The first part,
"The Economy of Vegetables" was not published until 1791, possibly
because Darwin was initially concerned that the occasionally mystic musings
therein may have a negative effect on his reputation as a serious author and
physician.

"The botanic Garden" runs a weighty 4,384 lines and
is made up entirely of perfectly rhyming couplets. The poem ranges widely
through personified descriptions of the biology of plants and other aspects
of the scientific world. Here we see the beginnings of Erasmus's belief in
the existence of emotions in plants, a view that he expands upon in later
publications:

"How the young rose in beauty's damask pride
Drinks the warm blushes of his bashful bride;
With honey'd lips enamour'd Woodbines meet,
Clasp with fond arms and mix their kisses sweet"

He mingles these insightful descriptions with the more metaphysical
antics of various gnomes, sylphs and nymphs, sometimes as a narrative device
and other times as analogies for various natural or sociopolitical forces.
Erasmus also gives nods to the scientific achievements of many of his friends
and contemporaries, and speculates wildly (often with uncanny accuracy) about
the science and technologies of the future:

"Soon unconquer'd steam ! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
The flying chariot through the fields of air.
Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above,
Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move;
Or warrior-bands alarm the gaping crowd,
And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud"

Other inventions seem a little more tongue in cheek, as in this
example of a new use for electricity:

"Or, if on wax some fearless Beauty stand,
And touch the sparkling rod with graceful hand;
Through her fine limbs the mimic lightnings dart,
And flames innocuous eddy round her heart;
O'er her fair brow the kindling lustres glare,
Blue rays diverging from her bristling hair;
While some fond youth the kiss etheral sips,
And soft fires issue from their meeting lips"

Aside from the descriptions of the reproductive strategies of
various plants there is little evidence of any evolutionary ideas in these
first two poems. Although the two parts of "The Botanic Garden"
were Darwin's first major published works, at the time of their release he
had been working for many years on a much larger and more serious treatise
on medicine and animal life called "Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic
Life", which was published in 1794.

Most of "Zoonomia" is made up of a Linneaus-inspired
classification of all diseases and treatments known at that time. Erasmus
tries to arrange them into distinct species, genera, families and ultimately
into four broad classes: diseases of irritation (from external sources), sensation
(such as excess pain or pleasure), volition (caused by desire or aversion)
and association (where diseases of one organ or system can cause other associated
problems). Since scientifically gathered, empirical data was yet available
for most diseases, it is perhaps not surprising that such a simplistic fallacy
could have grown in his mind. Furthermore, Darwin himself recognizes the ineffectiveness
of many aspects of his efforts and writes a lengthy apology at the beginning
of the book to say so.

For a modern biologist, "Zoonomia" is a deliciously
frustrating book to read since Erasmus often gropes so close to our modern
understanding that it is hard to restrain oneself from yelling out the crucial
information he obviously needs to bring his razor sharp mind to the right
answer. It is also fascinating to see the differences between modern and eighteenth
century thought processes, particularly the heavy reliance on analogy as a
problem-solving mechanism. Erasmus often uses the term explicitly and routinely
offers it as the primary argument behind certain ideas, even when the two
"analogous" phenomena are not clearly connected at all. For example
in the comparison between the gills of fish and the lungs of animals, which
he can see are analogous even though he is ignorant of the exact workings
of either. In other places he rejects ideas if he can see no argument "either
by reason or analogy" for their support. The idea that "A leads
to B" may somehow be supportive of the statement: "C leads to D"
seems alien to scientists today but this was one of the most common ways to
attempt to understand reality prior to the development of Baconian logic.

It is interesting to note that analogy is a common pedagogic
device in biblical scripture and "reasoning by
analogy" continues to be in widespread use today by evangelical creationists
as a way to develop counter-
evolutionary arguments, even though the rest of the academic community has
long since abandoned this
approach as totally unsatisfactory compared to the collection of empirical
data and the use of induction and
deduction.

Even though the central tenet of "Zoonomia" is wrong,
the book is filled with fascinating accounts of individual diseases and observations
of animal behavior that are sometimes correct, and often reveal remarkable
insight. Some of the descriptions of Erasmus's unique treatments also include
a correct explanation of their physiological basis that shows understanding
superior to that of any of his contemporaries. Specific examples include his
use of whole-body cooling (in cold mountain streams) to cause vaso-constriction
and thus stop internal bleeding, and his use of directed electric shocks (twenty
years before Galvani) to cause the muscles around the bile duct to contract
and clear a blockage that was causing jaundice. In another passage he comes
close to describing the chemistry of respiration after making the connection
that the newly discovered gas "oxygene" must be taken up from air
by the blood as it passes through the lungs of man, or from the water in the
gills of fish. He further postulates that the warmth of the mammalian body
comes from the release of heat as oxygen "reacts" with blood in
the lungs just as heat is released when organic matter is burned.

Some of his best medical ideas appear when he describes "diseases
of volition" which he believed to include
ailments such as excessive vanity, grief, watchfulness, ambition and "irksomeness
of life" . He saw that such
mental illnesses could have physical consequences and generally deals sympathetically
with such cases using
counseling and sometimes mild sedation to good effect. Remember, this was
in a time when many other physicians preferred to attempt "beating the
devil" from patients with mental illness. Erasmus not only condemns such
superstitious practices but actually considers them to be another example
of mental illness. (Or possibly he claims this as his belief just to annoy
those who most opposed his anti-supernatural ideas.)

Perhaps the most interesting passages in "Zoonomia"
can be found in the chapter called "On Generations" where Erasmus
describes his understanding of reproductive and evolutionary processes (see
below).
In 1797, encouraged by his two daughters as they strove to set up their own
boarding school, Erasmus tried his hand at educational philosophy and published
"A Plan for the Conduct Of Female Education in Boarding schools".
The book was a polite but scathing attack on the conventional idea that girls
should be raised to be vacuous ninnies, shy retiring and demure to the point
of sociopathy, delicate of frame almost to the point of physical incapacity
and versed only in the feminine pursuits of needle-crafts, ancient languages
and social etiquette. Erasmus suggested instead that they should be raised
strong in mind and body with a wide knowledge of the sciences and mathematics
so that they would be able to manage their own affairs and that of their family
as an equal partner to their husband. These suggestions were considered scandalous
at first but were ultimately widely influential.

In 1800, Erasmus published a treatise on plant life called "Phytologia".
Once again, this work shows understanding far beyond its time. It covers almost
every aspect of plant biology including almost perfect functional descriptions
of asexual reproduction (its advantages and disadvantages), stomata, vascular
bundles, photosynthesis, plant nutrition, fertilization of soil and the nitrogen
cycle. It also contains some remarkable predictions, such as the use of sugar
beats instead of cane in temperate climates, sewage farms, "no till"
agriculture, artesian well irrigation, biological control of pest species
and commercial logging of hardy conifers in non-arable areas. Perhaps the
most glaring mistake is the idea that honey is a plant storage product that
bees steal without benefit to the plant. Remarkably, despite having a reasonable
understanding of reproduction in plants, Erasmus never makes the connection
that insects can act as pollinators. Another idea that seems a little strange
to us is Erasmus's insistence that plants have similar emotional lives to
those of animals, experiencing pleasure, fear and fatigue in much the same
way as ourselves. He tries to defend this view by embarking on a search for
the location of a simple "brain" in plant tissues, but admits that
he is unable to find it.Elsewhere, Erasmus makes similar attempts to demonstrate
that plants are but a low form of animal, likening the collection of buds
that make up a plant to the collection of polyps that make up a coral colony.

"Phytologia" is otherwise extremely accurate and too
detailed to adequately convey with small extracts here.
The only other part of the book that I will specifically introduce is Erasmus's
"philosophy of organic happiness", which says that there is always
a net increase in the total happiness of all living things on earth. For example,
the loss of happiness caused by the death of one animal would be more than
compensated for by the gain in happiness of the beetles that consume the carcass.
It could be that this philosophy is Erasmus's attempt to counter the idea
that his mechanistic view of nature is dire and depressing compared to earlier
theistic ideas that all things natural are good and beautiful to reflect the
nature of their creator. This could also be an attempt to additionally connect
living things together in some kind of transmutational network in the same
way that his "animalization" of plants seems to be an attempt to
unify living things, possibly to prepare his audience for the most evolutionarily
explicit of his works; the posthumously published "Temple of Nature;
or, The Origin of Society" which appeared in 1803 (See below).

Erasmus Darwin on evolution.
"Temple of Nature" is written in the same style as, but attracted
less attention than "Botanic Garden" probably because the French
revolution had changed the political climate of the country from being tolerant
of new ideas to being highly paranoid and refractory towards them. This last
work, although not designed to be a scientific argument, is the clearest indicator
of Erasmus's views on the origin of life:

"Ere Time began, from flaming chaos hurled
Rose the bright spheres, which from the circling world;
Earths from each sun with quick explosions burst,
And second planets issued from the first.
Then whilst the sea at their coeval birth
Surge over surge involved the shoreless earth;
Nursed by warm sun-beams in primeval caves
Organic life began beneath the waves.....
Hence without parent by spontaneous birth
Rise the first specks of animated earth;
From nature's womb the plant or insect swims,
And buds or breathes with microscopic limbs."

"Organic life beneath the shoreless waves
Was born and nurs'd in ocean's pearly caves
First forms minute unseen by sphearic glass
Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass;
These, as successive generations bloom,
New powers acquire and larger limbs assume;
whence countless groups of vegetation spring
And breathing realms of fin and feet and wing"

These astonishing lines really need no comment since they speak
for themselves in terms of their familiarity to modern scientists. Erasmus
goes on to describe the spread of living things, what we now call the struggle
for survival and the forces that check unrestrained population growth in all
animals, even man. Towards the end of the poem he eludes again to his philosophy
of organic happiness by suggesting that mountains or sediment layers made
up of the tests of living creatures are "mountains of past delight".
In an explanatory note he proclaims that this is evidence for the "benevolence
of the deity".

Some analysts suggest that this note was merely an attempt to
avoid further attack as an atheist, but I find this unlikely since Erasmus
was probably well aware when he wrote these lines that he would be publishing
posthumously. In addition, his grandson Charles discounts the idea, offering
several evidences of his grandfather's belief in some sort of natural theology
driven by a "first great cause".

Erasmus Darwin's ideas of evolution are extremely advanced for
their time. Most agree that they are closer to the modern model than those
of Lamarck, a few years later, and some contend that they are closer even
than those of Charles Darwin some sixty years later. His evolutionary ideas
are laid out in chapter thirty-nine of "Zoonomia" (sub-titled; "Of
Generation"). The ideas in this chapter undergo significant revision
over the three additions of the book, mainly associated with Erasmus's improving
understanding of the role of sexes in reproduction. Initially he seems to
believe that the characteristics of the offspring come only from the male
parent, the female acting as little more than a nourishing vessel. Later,
after considering the characteristics of mules, he realizes that the offspring
actually show a blending of characters from both parents.

In "Of Generation" Erasmus uses five basic arguments
to suggest evolution of all life from a single "living
filament":

1) The metamorphosis of larval animals after birth as seen,
for example in the butterflies and frogs.
2) The changes introduced into animals and plants as a result of domestication
and selective breeding.
3) The changes that occur in species (Erasmus thought) as a result of the
environmental factors acting on the
parents. As an example of this he cites the widely held belief that dogs with
their tails clipped produced tail
-less pups.
4) The similarities and teleological modifications of related animals. This
is the argument we call "homology"
today.
5) The belief that living things learn behaviors and supposedly modify their
own structure over their life time
as a result of their own "exertions", and pass these changes on
to their offspring. For this Erasmus gives
several (erroneous) examples including that of diversity of bird beaks. He
also describes a type of sexual
selection where animals modify themselves to achieve more effective sexual
display as a result of their own
exertions to meet their basic needs (including lust).

From these arguments, Erasmus concludes:

"Perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the
history of mankind, would it be too bold to
imagine that all warm blooded animals have arisen from one living filament
which the first great cause
endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts ....... and thus
possessing the faculty of
continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down
those improvements by
generations to its posterity, world without end ?"

He seems to have the time scale about right, and this appears
to be one of the first occasions that such a huge figure was suggested for
the age of the earth. Notice also his apparent natural theology, which he
eludes to often in his writing. He then goes on to suggest similar mechanisms
for the evolution of plants, additionally proposing that new characters frequently
appear through "intermarriages" of plant species and that selection
of useful traits may occur because of a:

"perpetual contest for light and air above, and for food
or moisture beneath the soil"

This phrase sounds a lot like his famous grandson's "struggle
for survival". In the third edition of "Zoonomia" Darwin bolsters
his speculations further by adding a new and improved theory of "generation"
(reproduction):

"On considering the reproduction of [living things] the
modes of generation may be divided into
solitary and sexual.... [In solitary] reproduction I suppose that fibrils
with formative appetencies and
molecules with formative aptitudes or propensities, produced by, or detached
from, various essential
parts of their respective systems, float in the vegetable or insect blood........
[In sexual reproduction]
we may safely conclude that as these fibrils or molecules floated in the circulating
blood of the
parents, they were collected separately by appropriated glands of the male
or female; and that finally
on their mixture in the matrix the new embryon was generated, resembling in
some parts the form of
the father and in other parts the form of the mother according to the quantity
or activity of the fibrils
or molecules at the time of their conjunction."

He goes on to correctly assert that the sexual reproduction
must give rise to a far greater variety offspring, and thus of species, than
asexual reproduction, an assertion that he also maintained in "Phytologia".

Erasmus's influence on Charles Darwin:
Much has been written about Erasmus Darwin including at least five thorough
biographies. A review of these suggests that the most useful, the one from
which the others seem to draw most of their material, was written by none
other than Erasmus's famous grandson, Charles Darwin and published in 1880,
two years before Charles's death. Charles was born in 1809, seven years after
the death of his grandfather but during his education he became familiar with
all Erasmus's writings and correspondence. Most were still in Charles's possession
when he wrote his biography, and he quotes from these materials extensively.

Charles's biography appears as a "preliminary notice"
to a review of Erasmus's scientific papers by Ernst Krause. From the biography
it is clear that there was much family lore passed on to Charles, and that
he was well aware of the beliefs, achievements and shortcomings of his ancestors.
His steadfast, almost militant defense of his grandfather's character suggests
that the vindication of his ancestor's discredited views may have been a significant
conscious or unconscious motivational force behind the pursuit of evolutionary
ideas. In his autobiography, Charles recalls a lecture he heard at Cambridge
when he was eighteen in which a Dr. Robert Grant talked favorably about the
evolutionary ideas of Erasmus:

"I listened in astonishment, and far as I can judge, without
any effect on my mind. I had previously
read the "Zoonomia" of my grandfather in which similar views were
maintained but without
producing any effect on me. Nevertheless it is probable that the hearing rather
early in life such
views maintained and praised may have favored my upholding them under a different
form in my
"origin of species"

This may be an understatement of the extent to which he was
directly influenced by his grandfather since Charles's copies of "Zoonomia"
and "The Botanic garden" still exist and are extensively marked
and annotated in such a way as to make it clear that he read them very carefully
sometime after his return from the voyage of "The Beagle", but before
the publication of "The Origin of Species" Next to a paragraph where
Erasmus describes the way that bird's beaks may have diversified as a result
of the birds own endeavors to find food, Charles wrote:

"Lamarck, concisely forestalled by my grandfather"

Elsewhere, Erasmus describes the use of selective breeding of
sheep with favorable traits by farmers to improve the flock, Charles writes
"Good" showing that he seems to have developed quite early a preference
for the idea of selection rather than "modification by endeavor"
as a mechanism for change.

Other possible influences on Charles can be detected in some
of the common subject matter that both choose to consider in their writings,
even though each may treat them quite differently. Examples of references
that occur in the works of both men include: the biology of corals, the diversity
of the shape and function of bird's beaks, the expression of emotion in animals,
the influence of sexual selection, selective breeding in domestic animals
and plants (both mention pigeons early in this argument.), references to geology
and uniformitarianism as evidence of an old earth, physical, intellectual
and cultural evolution of man and the application to man of the same evolutionary
forces as all other animals. There are abundant stylistic similarities in
sentence structure and word choice easily visible between the works of the
two Darwins, even the titles of their greatest works are similar; "The
Origin of Society" and "The Origin of Species".

Before I close I should be sure not to strip away too much credit
from Charles Darwin since although he was clearly influenced by his grandfather
it is also true that "The Origin of Species" contains many unique
elements considered only by Charles. In particular, Charles dispels the idea
of the inheritance of acquired characteristics that his grandfather and Lamarck
suggest, and more importantly, supplies a huge body of expertly gathered observations
from around the world to support his ideas with a level of thoroughness and
detail that Erasmus was never able to supply. Ultimately Erasmus's work seems
to say: "could it be that...?", whereas Charles's work screams:
"the facts suggest...."

Bibliography
Darwin, Erasmus "Commonplace book" [microform] Reproduced ... from
the original manuscripts at Down
House. New York: Distributed by Clearwater Pub. c1970.